Veratrum album
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| White Hellebore | ||||||||||||||
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| Veratrum album L. |
Veratrum album, commonly known as the False Helleborine (but also known as White Hellebore, European White Hellebore, White Veratrum; syn. Veratrum lobelianum Bernh.[1]) is a medicinal plant[2][3] of the Liliaceae (lily family) which is native to Europe.
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[edit] Plant description
The plant is a perennial herb, with a stout vertical rhizome covered with remnants of old leaf sheaths. The stems are stout, simple, 50-175cm tall. They have been mistaken for yellow gentian, Gentiana lutea, which is used in beverages, resulting in poisoning.[4]
[edit] Uses
In general the root is very poisonous, with a paralyzing effect on the nervous system[1]. In two cases of fatal poisoning from eating the seeds, the toxins veratridine and cevadine were present in the blood at 0.17-0.40 nanograms/milliliter and 0.32-0.48 nanograms/milliliter, respectively. In 1983 sneezing powders produced from the herb in West Germany were reported to have caused severe intoxications in Scandinavia.[5]
[edit] History
The most efficient drug based on white hellebore and a sesamoide (probably the reseda alba) was in antiquity elaborated by the physicians of Antikyra, a city of Phokis in Greece.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Veratrum album at Plants For A Future
- ^ Felter, Harvey Wickes. (1922) The Eclectic Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
- ^ Felter, Harvey Wickes; Lloyd, John Uri. (1898) King's American Dispensatory.
- ^ PMID 15773425
- ^ PMID 6887310
- ^ See the vast collection of ancient sources in Hahnemann S., Disertatio de helleborismo veterum (Leipzig 1812)
